Five Occupations That Interest Me

Your goal for today is to create a list of "Five Occupations That Interest Me".  Be honest, sincere, and realistic -- If you want to include a humorous occupation in your list, make it your 6th item.

Include the following items for each occupation:

1. Title of the occupation
2. Why are you interested in this occupation?
3. What are the challenges or road blocks that could keep you from getting this occupation?
4. Where do people in this occupation typically live?  Would you enjoy living there?
5. Which of your skills, abilities, or personality traits fit well with this occupation?
6. Do you know anybody who currently has this occupation?  
7. What do you think the annual starting salary is for this occupation?

For example:

1. History Teacher
2. I love history and I would like to have the same days off as my kids some day.  I would also like to take off Summers and I like helping people and being an advocate for teenagers.
3. Challenges would be getting my college degree and doing student teaching and not making much money.
4. People in this job can live anywhere that their credential is accepted.  
5. I am organized and I like working with people and I love history and I like learning.
6. I know a lot of teachers.
7. I think the annual starting salary for teachers is about $34,000.

Homework: Making a Difference in Your Community / +Group Assignments

HOMEWORK [70 points]

Decide the location of your community -- Jellico, LaFollette, Elk Valley, Rocky Top, Clairfield, Stinking Creek, Caryville, White Oak, etc.  If your local community doesn't fit with this project, use Jellico since it's where you spend your days, do your shopping, go to restaurants, etc.

• List 10 specific things that are positive about your community.  What are some things that you would tell someone about if you wanted them to visit?  If some jerk that you couldn't stand came here saying your community was horrible, what sorts of things would you counter with?  List WHY your community is good.  (At least 10 *real* things)
• List 10 specific things about your community that one person could do to make a difference.
  These could be simple things like picking up trash in the park, clearing weeds along ABC Road, painting over graffiti behind the gas station, etc.  (At least 10 *real*, specific things)
• List 10 specific things that a small group of people could do to make a difference.
  Things like cleaning up the abandoned cemetery on XYZ Street, planting a community garden in the abandoned lot on the corner of Main Street and 1st Avenue, cleaning out destroyed/abandoned buildings or lots along the railroad tracks, etc.    (At least 10 *real*, specific things)
• List 10 specific things about Jellico High School that are positive. 
  How are we better than other schools in the country or in the world?  What are some good things that we have at our school that you wish more people knew about?
• List 10 things that you [or a group of students, parents and teachers] could start doing to make JHS a better place to go to school.  Be honest but respectful.  Try to think of things that could help the school in a variety of ways -- academic, aesthetics, attitude, etc.
• List 10 specific things that students can do to become better students.  This one is a bit different than "making a difference in your community" because it focuses on making yourselves better, but what could you [and others] do to be better students, people, friends, etc.

Now that you have your lists:

1. Look at your lists of projects and put a star next to the items that could be done without money.
2. What are some local resources that might be used to get some of the projects on your lists done?  (i.e. Boy Scouts, church groups, philanthropists, etc.)
3. In what ways could getting some of these changes made help your community [and school] now and in the future?
4. What is one easy task that you would be willing to take on to make a difference?  What if everybody worked on one simple thing?  
5. There's a rule in hiking, hunting, camping, etc. that recommends leaving your site better than you found it.  What would happen if we did that everywhere?
6. How does examining your community (where you live and go to school) help students understand history, geography, and economics?
7. Interview an adult in your community and ask them about the positive things and the things they would like to see changed.  (4 pts.)

Resources:

• Tennessee Property Map: http://tnmap.tn.gov
• Yelp! Reviews: http://www.yelp.com
• Google Images (Jellico): https://www.google.com/

Jellico City Council
Meets the 3rd Thursday each month at City Hall

(423) 784-6351

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GROUP ASSIGNMENTS

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Today the members of this class are forming groups [of 4] to discuss our community.  For the purpose of this project, we will consider Jellico as our community -- even if we are in smaller communities such as Elk Valley, Newcomb, Stinking Creek, Eagan, White Oak, Indian Mountain or "1804".

Get in individual groups based on the community you have chose -- there must be 4 (or fewer) people in your group.  Write "Making a Difference: Jellico Pride" at the top of a sheet of binder paper and the names of all group members participating.  Underline the name of the "recorder" (the person writing down the ideas; they will receive extra credit.

Part I: On the front of this paper write:  "Positive Things About Our Community" and then begin a list of good things.  It could be places to go, things to see, the kind of people, or whatever.

Part II: On the back of this paper, write the heading "How Can We Make Things Better?"  Next, make two columns 1, "Things One Person Can Do" and 2, "Things a Group Could Do".  Now start a list for each side for real things we can do to make positive change.

Part III: On the front of a new piece of paper, write:  "Positive Things About Jellico High School."  Think of good classes, good teachers, good staff members, foods, sports, or whatever else you think is a good thing.

Part IV: On the back of the paper, label it: "Things That Would Make JHS Better".  List things that we could change here to make our school a better place to be.  This isn't a "hit list", so if you want to call out teachers or staff, do so respectfully and use specific things they could do better.  Think of classes you would like to take, things that would make the facilities better, changes in our rules, etc.  Be proactive and think of real things that we could implement.

Kids Today: A Class Discussion Update

I previously stated that your generation was not a "bad generation" or a "lost generation" or a "wasted generation."  I asserted that your generation was doing more positive things than many previous generations.  I happened upon this note today and I thought it would be interesting to share to see
what you think.

Read the article by clicking the link below:

Journal: Should We Disconnect?

Now, while I believe your generation is absolutely amazing -- the thing that I worry most about you all is your dependence on your mobile devices.  You may agree or disagree, but then that's what this assignment is about.  I will show you a video demonstrating technology use, and I want you to take a position on texting and our connection to [or reliance on] technology.  Write the entire 5-6 minutes that you are allotted and I will give you a final minute to close out your thoughts.

I Forgot My Phone: After writing your journal entry, watch the next clip.  Did it change your viewpoint?

How We See Ourselves

As we have discussed, when I ask you all to tell me about yourselves you often tell me, "I'm short" or "I'm skinny".  Who you are is different than what you are -- and quite often, "what we are" is often seen through a filter we have built for ourselves.  And we are generally more critical of what we look like than others are.  

   

   

Photo Manipulation in the Media

Today we will be discussing how "the media" uses programs like Photoshop to alter images for advertising or even news.  We will also discuss the ethics of such manipulation, and prepare for some basic image alterations for a mock client.

Below is a video (from Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty) which demonstrates how much the print media (magazines, billboards, etc.) rely on PhotoShop.  It also does a great job of demonstrating why young people today have difficulty living up to the images they see in magazines and advertising.  Even supermodels get Photoshopped before they are "good enough".

And this one:
And one for the guys: And how about a real-time video editing selection:

Here are some examples of Photo Manipulation in the media:

So when did "photo manipulation" begin?  Many people think it's a new invention which arrived with the invention of programs like Photoshop, but although technology has made photo manipulation easier it has been around almost since photography was invented.  Look at the following examples:

This well-known portrait of Abraham Lincoln was done around 1860.  It is actually a combination of Abraham Lincoln's head and Southern politician John Calhoun's body.

This well-known picture of General U.S. Grant atop his horse at a Civil War camp is actually a composite of three separate pictures.  (Click to view larger picture)

The big question is to decide when it is appropriate to manipulate a photo and how much manipulation should be done.  Are you removing a pimple from the tip of someones nose or doctoring a photo to make someone appear more guilty?  Are you removing a power line or a distracting road sign to improve the image, or are you removing wrinkles from someones' face for an anti-wrinkle cream?  Here are some more examples:

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.


Another big question is should the news be able to create images to illustrate their stories?  Sometimes they are altered, sometimes cropped, and sometimes created outright.  So when is something "news" and when does it cross the line to become entertainment?

These two magazine covers used the same photo and sat on news stands the same week:

The same two magazines had these covers depicting the McCaughey septuplets.  One magazine (in this case, Newsweek) decided that they needed to replace Mrs. McCaughey's mouth with another that was more attractive.

Sometimes the same company can release the same picture -- and decide to "fix" it.

Here are some examples of when the news takes things out of [or put things into] the picture:

Iranian Missile Launch Test

Brad & Angelina were "caught together", although the photo's shown  were taken at different times and in different places -- Brad Pitt was in the Caribbean in 2005 and Angelina Jolie was in Virginia in 2004.

The $2 Bill was changed to reflect ethnic diversity in 2009.

When an actor is known for his facial expressions (including wrinkles) it seems silly to Photoshop them out.

Here's an example of the same student from the same picture using 3 different laptops from 3 different advertisements.

In this example, National Geographic gained some dubious recognition when they "created" the cover of the magazine by Photoshopping together pyramids into a more aesthetically pleasing photo.

These photos of deceased soldiers (released by the Army in 2008) were later retracted when it was discovered that they were identical -- with the exception of the name and face, obviously.

Israeli newspaper Yated Neeman removed two female cabinet members from a photo of Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres -- and replaced them with male cabinet members.

Malaysian President Jeffrey Wong Su En produced this doctored photo as evidence that he had been knighted by the Queen of England.

Egypts newspaper Al-Ahram published this photo in which Egyptian President Mubarak was moved to the leadership position appearing to lead the group of world leaders.

This picture claiming to be Sarah Palin was printed in many newspapers during the last election.  I saw it in a San Francisco newspaper as recently as last Summer.  It was later revealed to be doctored.

Claiming a Rabbinical modesty code, Orthodox newspaper Der Tzitung removed pictures of women from this photo of President Obama's situation room during the take-down of Osama Bin Laden.

Here are a few pictures showing some editing/manipulation (click to view animation):

Sometimes they simply piece together parts of the same celebrity to create the shot they are looking for.

There's a quickly growing collection of "Photoshop Fails" which display examples bad Photoshop work -- typically unfinished or unnoticed problems.  Usually just the result of lazy designers.

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